Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

Hi,

I've just got a Fido Pulse plan recently, bringing my own device, an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8 purchased directly from Samsung. I chose Fido mainly because of VoLTE and Wifi Calling. I installed the lastest Fido firmware on my phone to make sure there is no compatibility problem with the network. The CSC code of my phone (in the settings menu) is FMC, which is the Fido one. VoLTE and Wifi Calling options are present in the settings.

When I enable VoLTE, calls still fall back on the HSPA+ network. For the Wifi Calling, when I click the link to configure the address, I receive the verification code but it tells my phone seems incompatible and to contact the Fido support.

Fido/Rogers, this is a real shame. My phone is indistinguishable from a Fido one and is fully compatible. Well, the only difference is that you didn't get the money...

It doesn't work because you don't allow non-Fido purchased phone based on their IMEI to register on these networks, for no reason. Some people had luck and customer support were able to add their IMEI in the database to get it work, but a lot, including me, don't. I had this luck with an unlocked iPhone 6 with Rogers (after "fighting" with the customer support for over 2 weeks), but this time, it's been a while I ask them but they say they're unable to do it, that the technical support will call me back in 24h-48h but they never call back or that they're unable to join them. There is no technical problem here, it is just an anti-consumer practice.

So I post this here for everyone to see and for people who might consider to bring their device to Fido to be warned about this (even though there are a lot of other post about this), and for you to see their real face, they're just greedy. To get $50+ for a few Gb isn't enough, they want you to buy the same phone you have from them.

And maybe a representent from Fido can help me to get the technical support to contact me to fix this problem before I give up?

What you, Fido/Rogers, seem to forget, is that people who bring their own devices do not have any contract, they can leave whenever they want. And as the CRTC ban the anti-consumer practice of locking cellphones and unlocking fees, people will be able to move between carriers freely, and it will be a real mess for you.

We are a lot in that case, you're going to lose a lot of clients. And don't forget you're not only in competition with other carriers but also with all VOIP services we have now, from Whatsapp to VOIP.ms

P.S. VoLTE and Wifi calling are no more "future technologies", they are today's technologies. LTE is the main network now, almost everybody use it, and you still prevent us to call on this network. As for Wifi Calling, it is important for people who live in basement or in the country side with a poor network quality. It also relieve the towers as there will be less network trafic.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

Thanks for your feedback @quenting96 . I hear where you are coming from, a lot of our users have unlocked phones and would like to benefit from this feature and it's definitely feedback that I'll be forwarding.

At this moment unless the device was directly purchased from Fido it's not possible to make this happen, it is however possible with iPhones as you pointed out. I know this is not new information to you and it definitely looks like you tried to do everything on your end to make it work.

As I said for now I'll forward your feedback and if anything changes I'll be happy to let you know!

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

Hi @FidoNick, what do you mean VoLTE and Wifi calling "may work". We all know Fido purposely blocks IMS Services even though the phone is technically compatible and WILL work. You block phones that aren't purchased from Fido.

I challenge anyone to try this:

Place your sim in a phone purchased from Fido, VoLTE/Wifi Calling will work as expected.

Place your sim back into your non-Fido purchased phone, VoLTE/Wifi calling will still work for a couple of minutes at most until the system deprovisions you again.

Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.

Indeed this is ridiculous...I would much rather buy a phone directly from Samsung, and I don't see the need to cripple it, as long as the feature is officially supported. If the phone can use these features for the first few minutes, that obviously shows that the phone IS compatible. Very stupid move by Fido / Rogers on this one.

Having said this, do you know if a Rogers purchased phone is on the whitelist for both Rogers and Fido? Or does it exclusively have to be from Fido, and not even Rogers? Thanks!

Good question... To be honest I don't really know what the criteria for their provisioning is, so I can't tell for sure if Rogers phones are also provisioned for IMS Services on the Fido network.

What's even weirder is I had a Videotron-purchased Galaxy phone prior to this one which had IMS Services as Registered for the entire duration of me owning the phone. When I asked them why that was they said "Your phone must've been purchased from Fido"... I said uhm no, it was a Videotron phone. The reason I could even enable VoLTE was because I changed the CSC to Fido on it.

So this makes it even more confusing as to how it gets provisioned or why it gets deprovisioned on their network.

Needless to say, the entire provisioning of Fido-purchased phones for VoLTE/Wifi Calling is really stupid at this point since ALL Canadian phones are now unlocked so who the heck cares where you bought your phone as long as it's the canadian variant of the phone. Why are my services getting disabled by the network? It's the same hardware AND software on my phone. "We cannot guarantee IMS services will work on your unlocked phone" Yeah, you're blocking the services. Start by not intervening then sure you can claim you can't guarantee it to work.

The whole point of BYOD is that you own a phone and you bring it to any network.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

... carriers will have to find other ways to lock you into buying and financing your phone from them and perhaps blocking services for BYOD phones is how to make more phone and financing sales. It's all pretty dirty if that is what is actually going on.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

It's pretty comical at this point watching Fido try to come up with different ways to say that VOLTE and Wifi Calling are not available to outside devices. "It may work..." Nope. Your network blocking makes sure that it doesn't work. Shady practices all around on Fido/Rogers end, as is the status quo in Canada unfortunately.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

It's pretty comical at this point watching Fido try to come up with different ways to say that VOLTE and Wifi Calling are not available to outside devices. "It may work..." Nope. Your network blocking makes sure that it doesn't work. Shady practices all around on Fido/Rogers end, as is the status quo in Canada unfortunately.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

hi all,

i had the same problem, purchasing samsung s9+ via samsung store in west edmonton mall,

i tried the *#243203855# and change the csc from "“XAC”, “Canada unbranded"" (as had the sales guy place and Hong Kong nano sim card, so the s9+ boots up without the install of fido software/bloatware), to the fido csc code of “FMC”, “Fido Mobile branded”. this factory reset my s9+. then i tried again, no VoLte, and no WiFi calling.

then i restored csc back to the XAC. then i went to the new Fido Store in West Edmonton Mall (that opened across the Santa Maria ship), the nice salesman Ming assisted me with an new Free Fido Simcard. he also changed my APN settings from 'mmsfidoproxy' to MMS Proxy: 205.151.11.13.. after reboot all good to go, I have now VoLte and Wifi Calling (had to register my mobile number to the Fido Wifi emergency system). the West Edmonton Mall samsung store the 'service/sales' ladies have idea what is 'IMS' registration (this allows VoLte and WiFi calling) , one (sales lady) told be this is for dual sim use (lol wrong), the other (service lady) refered the VoLte as 'facetime', and mentioned that no one is using this service. also note that the current plans should have the 'video calling aka VoLte' service with no additional costs while pinging Rogers (and their minions aka Fido) towers

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

i went to the new Fido Store in West Edmonton Mall (that opened across the Santa Maria ship), the nice salesman Ming assisted me with an new Free Fido Simcard. he also changed my APN settings from 'mmsfidoproxy' to MMS Proxy: 205.151.11.13.. after reboot all good to go, I have now VoLte and Wifi Calling (had to register my mobile number to the Fido Wifi emergency system). the West Edmonton Mall samsung store the 'service/sales' ladies have idea what is 'IMS' registration (this allows VoLte and WiFi calling) , one (sales lady) told be this is for dual sim use (lol wrong), the other (service lady) refered the VoLte as 'facetime', and mentioned that no one is using this service. also note that the current plans should have the 'video calling aka VoLte' service with no additional costs while pinging Rogers (and their minions aka Fido) towers

i went to the new Fido Store in West Edmonton Mall (that opened across the Santa Maria ship), the nice salesman Ming assisted me with an new Free Fido Simcard. he also changed my APN settings from 'mmsfidoproxy' to MMS Proxy: 205.151.11.13.. after reboot all good to go, I have now VoLte and Wifi Calling (had to register my mobile number to the Fido Wifi emergency system). the West Edmonton Mall samsung store the 'service/sales' ladies have idea what is 'IMS' registration (this allows VoLte and WiFi calling) , one (sales lady) told be this is for dual sim use (lol wrong), the other (service lady) refered the VoLte as 'facetime', and mentioned that no one is using this service. also note that the current plans should have the 'video calling aka VoLte' service with no additional costs while pinging Rogers (and their minions aka Fido) towers

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

grreaghb.....you know what...you were completly right about this....i have made call at the customer service lot of time to find an awnser to our problem and finally found the "culprit"....spoke to a "tech 2" at rogers...and he told me that its the politic of fido/rogers to give volte/wi-fi calling/video calling on fido branded phone!! for those like me who buy directely from samsung it will simply never work since fido dont have our imei number wich is crucial to have these option....however he put my phone imei on my account..so it should work..but 24 hours later still not...patience i guess..will see?

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

hi

i would first get an new sim card from Fido store, have the sales dude, setup and match up your mobile phone settings to match the apn as well. then try to setup wifi calling, register your mobile number, enter your name and address for 911, enable the VoLTE and call someone whom has VoLTE phone.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

hi

my mobile was purchased at the samsung store at west edmonton mall, simfree (no brand, no contract), it was setup first boot up with an Hong Kong Simcard. that is why it did not work the first time. an new sim card at Fido store should be good to go. also calling Fido to register the imei will not be bad idea too.

Re: Fido block VoLTE and Wifi Calling by blacklisting IMEI

@patrickchan To be honest, none of what you are saying makes any sense to me. Why do I need a new SIM when I already have a Fido SIM? What's a new Fido SIM going to do that the Fido SIM that I currently have doesn't?

And what does a "Hong Kong SIM" have to do with any of this?

And I don't know why you need to post 4 separate messages in a row. Why not just say everything you need to say in one message?